Manning, Conestoga spoil Kolka’s Owen J. Roberts debut

BUCKTOWN >> Rich Kolka and the Wildcats didn’t get off to the start they had been hoping for.

In his first go as head coach of Owen J. Roberts on Friday night, Kolka and the Wildcats got into an early they couldn’t overcome, eventually falling to Conestoga 41-14.

“For our first live-action game tonight, I thought we did a lot of nice things,” he said afterward. “It’s tough to simulate live speed during the offseason, so hopefully these guys will learn from this game and be ready for the season. There are certainly some things we can take away from this loss and do different next time around.”

Conestoga running back Corey Manning ran wild against the OJR defense, racking up 199 yards on the ground to go along with two touchdowns.

“I was seeing the holes and running the ball hard,” said Manning. “My vision with the ball has always been the most important part of my game. I always try and run hard, but the main thing for me is to get behind my blockers and find some open space to run with it.”

Manning found plenty of open space from the start, needing just three rushes on his team’s opening drive to march the ball 64 yards for the score.

He also punched it in from four yards out to cap off the Pioneers’ second drive, giving his team a 14-0 lead.

“Corey ran the ball hard and definitely gave us the edge right from the start,” said Conestoga John Vogan. “He ran the ball hard against a tough defense. That 3-3 stack (Owen J. Roberts’ defense) is very difficult to move the ball against, but our offense did really well.”

Under center, quarterback Tim Miller was efficient, finishing with 122 yards through the air with two passing touchdowns.

The senior connected with Dondre Ross across the middle for a 55-yard strike in the third quarter. He also threw a quick 2-yard touchdown to Peyton Jones halfway through the fourth to make it 34-14.

Owen J. Roberts quarterback Mitch Bradford had the Wildcats in contention at the half.

After trailing 20-0 following a punt return for a score by Dondre Ross, Bradford and the Wildcat offense settled in.

Halfway through the second quarter, Bradford ran in a 3-yard score. Just two minutes later, Matt McCollum picked off Miller’s pass at the 13 yard-line.

The Wildcats needed just one play, as Rayquan Stewart punched it in for the 13-yard score to make it 20-14 at the half.

“We had them close at the half, but we just couldn’t make those big plays when we needed to in the second half,” said Kolka.

Early on in the third quarter, Bradford left with a leg injury.

In his absence, Dawson Stuart couldn’t complete any of his seven pass attempts.

“It definitely didn’t help to have our quarterback go down,” said Kolka. “But our guys didn’t hang their heads, they didn’t get down. We kept playing hard.

“There were definitely a lot of good things I saw from our guys,” he added. “As the game went on, we started to come together as a unit and play as a team. Hopefully that’s something that we can continue to build on as the season goes on.”

Although the season didn’t get off to an ideal start, Kolka and the Wildcats hope to hit the ground running next Friday when they travel to Great Valley.